Travel Health: That Water on the Plane
A few days after I returned from South Africa, I got sick -- really sick. At first I wondered if I was suffering from drinking bad water, from, say, the ice cubes at that cute café in Jo'burg. But that's unlikely: Unlike many African countries, South Africa's drinking water is generally safe, especially in the cities. When I asked my friend who I'd been visiting if she was feeling at all sick, she said she wasn't, and suggested I'd caught some kind of bug on the airplane.
Initially, I blew that idea off -- what could I possibly catch on an airplane, besides a cold? -- but when I thought about it some more, it dawned on me: Maybe it was the water.
When I fly, I chug water -- partly to stave off the jet lag, partly so I can drink anti-germ potions like Airborne to keep colds at bay -- and if I don't bring a large enough water bottle to fill up at a water fountain once I get through security, I end up chugging those tiny water bottles they offer onboard. ("Could I have some water, please?" Flight attendant hands me a bottle. "Um, could I have four more?")
On my flight to Jo'burg from Dulles, I drank so many mini bottles of water that all I needed was a shopping cart and a recycling center and I'd make a dollar in Maine.
On the way back, though, I was sitting in the window seat, so I had to keep asking for water instead of going to the galley and grabbing a handful myself. So what did I do, in my infinite wisdom? Head to the loo and fill up the liter-size bottle I'd already drained. From the tap. Which, if I'm remembering correctly, was festooned with a sign showing a person drinking from a cup, with a big red X across it.
Lying in bed, clutching my stomach, I remembered that desperate bottle-filling episode, and I started wondering whether my friend was right about the plane... and if that picture by the sink means "do not drink this water or you will die."
So I wrote to South African Airlines, and the kind person who wrote back explained, in detail, where that tap water comes from. It turns out that the tap water is ok to drink; they have that sign by the tap because they just want people to drink bottled water so that the water they have onboard can be used for tea, coffee and flushing the toilets. SAA fills its planes with water from the municipal water supply in Johannesburg (serviced by Rand Water), but because the planes can only carry a finite amount, and the flights are so long, there's only so much water to go around.
Long story short: It wasn't the water on the plane, and it probably wasn't the tap water in South Africa at all. How I got sick is still anyone's guess, but I'll just chalk it up to a small price to pay for an amazing vacation.
Has anyone else ever gotten sick after returning from a trip abroad, without having any problems while traveling? Or have you ever gotten sick and figured out the source?
By Christina Talcott |
February 20, 2008; 12:41 PM ET
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Air Travel
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Airplanes
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Christina Talcott
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Tales from the Road
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Travel Health
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Posted by: Beware of hot dogs in Vegas | February 20, 2008 2:38 PM
I've gotten food poisoning before travel a couple of times, but never from the plane itself. It didn't really hit me till about 24 hours after I ate the food both times, but, ummm, wow. No throwing up, just everything else.
Posted by: EricS | February 20, 2008 3:58 PM
Just to be on the safe side, you could purchase the small bottle of Jack Daniels and add it to the water you are served on the plane -- strictly for medicinal reasons.
Posted by: Tom | February 20, 2008 4:44 PM
You drank something from a tap that had a sign with a big red X over a drinking cup? I mean, it turns out that wasn't what caused your problem, but...could they have been any more clear that you weren't supposed to drink it?
Posted by: h3 | February 20, 2008 5:19 PM
Last May My husband and I returned from a 10 day barge trip on the Mosel and Rhine Rivers. Within 4 days I was listless and sleepy, achy, nauseous, dizzy. This went on for 3.5 weeks, and multiple blood tests by my doctor found nothing so we chalked it up to an unknown virus. I probably picked it up in a German airport or on the plane. Now I carry sani-wipes and use them often. Good thing, though, I lost 10 pounds!
Posted by: JoAnn | February 21, 2008 9:43 AM
On a business trip to Brazil in 2000 I spent several days on a farm (a great story by itself - consulting to armed members of a religious cult) and did not give much thought to all of the water that I was drinking. The water, of course, came from a well and I am sure that all sorts of microorganisms from the cows, chickens and pigs found their way into the ground.
I got violently ill during my last couple of days in Sao Paulo and was taken by a local colleague to the corner drugstore (literally, a tin shack on the street corner, not a CVS) where I was handed a hand-labeled brown bottle of liquid. Not knowing what was inside I politely refused, but was given another product which appeared to come from a more established facility. Reading the label, however, I realized that the product contained an opiate (anyone remember Paragoric?). Knowing that a security clearance, random drug testing and opiates don't mix I opted to take my chances with the Pepto Bismol and Immodium in my dop kit.
These treatments were mildly effective, but I spent the majority of my trip from Sao Paulo to Chicago in the lavatory rather than enjoying my business class seat. After returning I went to see my doctor and found, after multiple tests, that I had contracted giardia, a nasty intestinal parasite. Three weeks and 25 pounds later I was fine, but one of the worst illnesses I have ever had.
Posted by: Lester Burnham | February 21, 2008 10:16 AM
Its entirely possible that it was the filling up of your bottle on the plane that made you sick. The water was probably ok but the tap and sink were more than likely teeming with bacteria and could have been washed into your water. People spit and do all sorts into those sinks and don't often clean up after themselves! Its the same with public water fountains. Your better off buying bottles of water before you board.
Posted by: SC | February 23, 2008 4:05 PM
It is so rare that you ever know the source.
I believe SAA that the water was safe but agree the tap was likely not--OR maybe the water is replenished but the tanks are not cleaned? Shame on you for drinking water with a red X on it!
Good for you for being able to score water bottles from flight attendants. I almost missed a flight once (was 2.5 hours early, the lines at Dulles were just that long) and did not have time to buy the liter bottle I usually take onboard. I begged for a bottle was was politely refused.
Posted by: 1shot | February 25, 2008 11:46 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
My tale is domestic rather than foreign, but my then-boyfriend and I went to Las Vegas for a weekend. The night before the flight home, he was *sick* -- as in the bartender took pity on him and got him some Tylenol even though he hadn't been drinking sick. On the flight home, he needed a garbage bag instead of an airsick bag and the poor flight attendants were trying every airsick trick in the book. (Would have been funny if the poor guy wasn't so miserable.)
When he got home and went to the doctor after two days of not holding anything down (he went the day after we got home), he was diagnosed with salmonella poisoning. We went through everything he and I had both eaten and found only one thing he had eaten that I hadn't that weekend -- a hot dog from Nathan's in one of the food courts. I didn't let him eat another hot dog the entire remaining time we dated unless we had cooked it through ourselves.